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It has been brought to my attention that I haven't updated my journals much recently! Well, that won't do at all.

To be honest not that much has changed in this tank recently, but then it has been three months since I've taken any pictures. So, I sat down last night to photodocument all the critters in my tank. Some are more shy than others, so some pictures are better than others, but they're all making an appearance. In no particular order:

1. Bronze Corydoras (and albino friend)
The fry I was raising in the previous posts started dying off. I had the same problem with my last batch, too - not sure what I'm doing wrong. I was able to move three survivors to the main tank, though, and now the cory school is pretty good sized.

2. Assassin Snails
I've got assassins like you wouldn't believe. They're all over the place, especially once I put food down. I keep meaning to ask the LFS if they want any.

3. Bamboo Shrimp (on left) plus Bamboo Shrimp's reflection (on right)
The bamboo shrimp still likes to hang out in java fern mountain near the filter inlet. I've cleared out the ferns a little bit and now I can see it more often, but it's still almost always hiding way back in there. It does come out sometimes during a water change... I guess when the filter flow stops it goes looking for a better spot.

4. Black Skirt Tetras
The big queen of the tetra school has had it rough. A few months back a gaping wound suddenly opened up on her side, and then after that healed up she got black spot disease, which as I understand it is a function of recovery from the previous injury. She's tough though... pulled through all that and keeps going. Rest of the school is doing fine too.

5. Platies
I have one male (the blue one shown) and five females at this point. The females all continue to look huge all the time, but I have not seen any live fry since I cut back the java moss. The moss had grown into a huge, ugly, algae-infested mess, but I guess it was giving the fry a fighting chance of survival. Now, not so much. I could use a few more.

6. Pearl Gouramis
The gourami sisters are all playing well with each other... most of the time. Still have one that's very round. Not sure if she's got eggs in there or if she just steals all the food. FYI the bubbles all over the place are because I had just done a water change.

7. Red Cherry Shrimp
I think the cherry shrimp colony's population is in decline. Has something finally figured out how tasty they are? Or is the population suffering from a genetic bottleneck since they're all decendents of the same 20 shrimp I got two and a half years ago? Not sure.

8. Zebra Danios
Most of the zebra danios I have in the tank now are part of the spawning that I raised. A lot of the fish in that batch are deformed - possibly due to bad genetics. Lots of crooked tails and bent spines, but it doesn't seem to have effected their mobility or overall health.

9. Otocinclus
The otos are very shy, especially since I had just messed with the java ferns where they live, so this is the best shot I can get. I think I've got four left out of the nine I started with... I should probably get some more.

10. Bristlenose Plecostomus
I have now had Cthulhu the bristlenose pleco for just over three years now, which makes him the oldest fish I own (I started the hobby about 3 years and 3 months ago). Still probably my favorite fish. I don't see him all that much when the tank lights are on, but I was able to bribe him to come out for a photoshoot by providing some zucchini.

This may be a long stretch but is it possible to have some of your assasin snails? I live in Dubai.

I've never shipped livestock before, let alone to outside the US. I was entertaining the idea of buying a betta direct from thailand at one point a couple years ago, and the import process was exhaustive and expensive. I have to imagine going from the US to the UAE would be just as difficult. I'd love to help you out, but it just doesn't seem feasible.